I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1391 

To prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating fossil fuel 

combustion waste under subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 6, 2011 

Mr. MCKINLEY (for himself, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. HOLDEN, 

Mr. TERRY, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. OLSON, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. 

POMPEO, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois, Mrs. 

MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. CRITZ, Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, and Mr. 

GRIFFITH of Virginia) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating fossil fuel combustion waste under subtitle C of 

the Solid Waste Disposal Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Recycling Coal Com5 bustion Residuals Accessibility Act of 2011’’ or the 

6 ‘‘RCCRA Act of 2011’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 The Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Pursuant to section 3001(b)(3)(C) of the 

2 Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 

3 6921(b)(3)(C)), the Environmental Protection Agen4 cy, in two separate final regulatory determinations, 

5 ‘‘Final Regulatory Determination on Four Large6 Volume Wastes From the Combustion of Coal by 

7 Electric Utility Power Plants’’ published at 58 Fed. 

8 Reg. 42466 (August 9, 1993) and ‘‘Notice of Regu9 latory Determination on Wastes from the Combus10 tion of Fossil Fuels’’ published at 65 Fed. Reg. 

11 32214 (May 22, 2000) (hereinafter the ‘‘2000 regu12 latory determination’’), concluded that neither large13 volume coal combustion wastes, nor any of the re14 maining fossil fuel combustion wastes, warrant regu15 lation under subtitle C of the Solid Waste Disposal 

16 Act. 

17 (2) In its 2000 regulatory determination, the 

18 Environmental Protection Agency found that regula19 tion of fossil fuel combustion wastes under subtitle 

20 C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act would be environ21 mentally counterproductive because such regulation 

22 would unnecessarily stigmatize such wastes and im23 pede their beneficial use. 

24 (3) The Department of Energy, the Federal 

25 Highway Administration, and the Department of 


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1 Agriculture have studied fossil fuel combustion 

2 wastes and determined that such wastes do not re3 quire a hazardous waste designation under subtitle 

4 C of the Solid Waste Disposal Act. 

5 (4) Roughly 42 percent of fossil fuel combus6 tion wastes are used beneficially in a variety of ap7 plications, including in concrete, wallboard, bricks, 

8 agricultural fertilizers, soil amendments, roofing ma9 terials, and other consumer products, in producing 

10 road base and fill materials, and in snow and ice 

11 control products. 

12 (5) According to the Environmental Protection 

13 Agency, 13,700,000 tons of fossil fuel combustion 

14 wastes were recycled and used in place of Portland 

15 cement in 2007, saving the United States nearly 

16 73,000,000,000,000 BTUs of energy, which is equiv17 alent to the annual energy consumption of more 

18 than 676,000 households. Greenhouse gas emissions 

19 were also reduced by 12,400,000 metric tons of car20 bon dioxide equivalent, roughly the annual green21 house gas emissions of 2,300,000 vehicles. 

22 (6) The regulatory impact analysis for the En23 vironmental Protection Agency’s proposed rule enti24 tled ‘‘Hazardous and Solid Waste Management Sys25 tem; Identification and Listing of Special Wastes; 


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1 Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Elec2 tric Utilities’’ published at 75 Fed. Reg. 35128 

3 (June 21, 2010) stated that such proposed rule did 

4 not include either a qualitative or quantitative esti5 mation of the potential effects of the proposed rule 

6 on economic productivity, economic growth, employ7 ment, job creation, or international economic com8 petitiveness. 

9 SEC. 3. NO REGULATION OF FOSSIL FUEL COMBUSTION 

10 WASTE UNDER SUBTITLE C OF THE SOLID 

11 WASTE DISPOSAL ACT. 

12 Section 3001(b)(3) of the Solid Waste Disposal Act 

13 (42 U.S.C. 6921(b)(3)) is amended by adding at the end 

14 thereof the following: 

15 ‘‘(D) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 

16 (1) or any other provision of this paragraph, each waste 

17 listed in clause (i) of subparagraph (A) of this paragraph 

18 shall not be subject to regulation under this subtitle.’’. 

Æ 


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